Slaughterdile vs Smashingun: the first encounter.

Wanted to try something new in technique, so I’ve made a quick scene with two fan-characters as training in “flat” style. Never loved this style too much, but it can be very handful in quick work, when you’re trying to keep focus and avoid losing freshness of vision. And it can be hybridized with more realistic “solid” style if you know how. So it is suitable as an element of more complex cross-bred style. Also I’ve put a lot of effects and textures, being under influence of comicist Livio Ramondelli. He’s handy in using a LOT of effects so they work for composition and mood, and picture still doesn’t look like chaotic mess. This is not as easy as it seems. Of course, I’ve made something different at the end of my experiment, but I like the result.

Some time ago I've read in somebody's blog that reference sheets are useless, because they become obsolete with further evolution of your character. I faced this situation in work on this picture, because I decided to re-design saurian robot Slaughterdile so now he differs a lot from his old reference sheet. I like his new outlook more, it’s more alien. So mush of pathos in this lazy reptilian face, steadily looking on his opponent Smashingun. They're two metal brutes matching each other. I’ll draw this staredown confrontation once again from another angle to depict Smashingun from the front view. And if this “flat style” experiment will satisfy me, possibly I’ll made a short pop-corny comic with a fun brawl between Dile and Gun and first two pictures will be the first two frames of it.